A highlight of the June Ponsonby U3A meeting was the presentation of honorary membership of U3A to Martin Leach, editor and publisher of the Ponsonby News.
It was awarded in recognition of Martin’s outstanding contribution to the work of U3A, by including a column on the activities of Ponsonby U3A in the Ponsonby News every month since July 2004, when he took over the magazine. Many local people have joined U3A after reading about it in the Ponsonby News.
“Ponsonby is a warm and friendly community and much of this is due to Martin producing a true community magazine, covering all the local issues, featuring local identities and businesses that is looked forward to every month,” says Ponsonby U3A president Christine Hart. “We love that we are part of the Ponsonby News family.”
Media consultant and researcher Dr Gavin Ellis returned to U3A in June with another important and timely discussion following his ‘Fake News’ talk last year. This time he stepped members through the media handling and coverage of the harrowing days following the tragic mosque shootings in Christchurch on 15 March this year. He outlined the media coverage for the first 72 hours, the aftermath and the issues yet to be encountered.
The police had posted their first message on social media within 12 minutes of the attack. The first journalist was also on the scene within 12 minutes. He was a 23-year-old videographer and photographer from Stuff. He had parked his car about 400m from the mosque and ran towards it. He later described the scene as chaos as he filmed from behind a tree looking down straight into the mosque. At that time no-one knew who was a terrorist and who was not.
Dr Ellis outlined the immediate media response and the following days and months and stated that he believes our journalists “have done a great job on this one.” He takes part in an annual workshop on terrorism incidents attended by police and security intelligence personnel and said that as an exercise in crisis communication management, the official response on 15 March was almost word-perfect.
Dr Ellis is a former editor-in-chief of the New Zealand Herald and his association with journalism spans more than half a century. While chair of the New Zealand Media Freedom Committee, he oversaw the negotiation of a protocol to be used by media and government agencies in the event of a terrorist incident. The author of two books, he is currently writing a third, on propaganda. He holds a PhD in political studies. The June 10-minute speaker, U3A member Lydia Smith, demonstrated, as always, the interesting lives of U3A members. Her talk was about Restorative Justice, what it is, who it is for, and her 12-year involvement as a restorative justice facilitator.
She explained that restorative justice is a community-based justice process that offers victims of an offence an opportunity to be part of seeing things put right, as far as that is possible. It does this through a process that works towards a meeting between the victim and offender, called a Restorative Justice Conference. In this conference both victim and offender talk about what occurred and what could happen to restore the victim’s wellbeing. A report from the conference goes to the court. Taking part in restorative justice is not compulsory. A conference will take place only if both victim and offender agree to participate.
The July meeting of Ponsonby U3A will be the 25th anniversary celebration of the founding of U3A in Ponsonby, in 1994. Members will attend a special anniversary lunch and entertainment with memories from the early days of the group. Two of the original members, Nancy Keat and Jill Bater, will be among those sharing stories from that time.
The July 25th anniversary celebration will be a members-only function.
Guests will be welcome to attend the August meeting at the Herne Bay Petanque Club on Friday 9 August at 10am, but are asked to contact the president, Christine Hart, prior to attending.
ENQUIRIES: Christine Hart, President Ponsonby U3A, M: 027 289 5514, www.u3a.nz